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Opinion Contributor

The case against Chris Christie

Christie can say what he wants but his words are just words, the author says.

By STEPHANIE SCHRIOCK | 2/27/13 4:41 AM EST

New Jersey voters know that running their state requires a lot more than making people laugh on late night TV. They know that a conservative who talks like a moderate is still a conservative. They know true moderates stand up for policies that work for families.

It’s time to look behind the Trenton curtain. It’s time to get to know the real Chris Christie. He’s been in the limelight, but I think it’s time to put the spotlight on his record.

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Christie can say what he wants but his words are just words. His actions make it pretty clear: his priorities are not the priorities of the people of New Jersey.

Who does he stand for? Not for New Jersey women!

New Jersey recently saw the closure of six family planning clinics that women across the state relied on for health care because of Christie’s funding cuts. And when given the chance to help those women, Christie instead vetoed a budget bill that would have given $7.5 million to those family-planning organizations. These are organizations like Planned Parenthood, which sees tens of thousands of New Jersey women each year.

And he doesn’t just work against women’s health. He also vetoed equal pay legislation calling it “senseless bureaucracy” and was especially critical of legislation to reduce pay inequities in public contracts. The average woman in New Jersey makes just 79 cents for every dollar a man earns. Closing that gap would help women buy school supplies and groceries, and pay for rent and tuition. Closing that gap would help New Jersey communities and families make ends meet. That gap is what’s senseless — working to correct it is not.

With that kind of respect for women, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear about the time he made a lewd joke to a woman at a campaign rally, or told reporters to “take the bat out on” a 76 year-old widow.

It’s not just women he’s working against. New Jersey families in search of a champion in the capital need to keep looking.

When Christie needed to make cuts in the budget, he decided to target programs that helped the people of his state in their moments of greatest need. He put the chance for children from low-income families to go to college in jeopardy by cutting nearly $50 million from Tuition Aid Grants. And he didn’t stop there; he also cut more than half a million dollars in funding for programs for abused children.